Gendered fieldwork with Chinese police: Negotiations among a researcher, gatekeeper, and participants

Abstract

This study is a reflexive analysis of my fieldwork experience studying Chinese police officers’ responses to domestic violence, focusing on recruitment and access. As one of the first qualitative works that investigate the gender quality of China’s street-level police subculture, it examines how having a female gatekeeper and studying a gendered topic in a male-dominated and chivalrously sexist subculture can shape female researchers’ fieldwork. This article clarifies the multiple roles a gatekeeper plays. The findings also highlight that doing gender in fieldwork involves a mutual categorization by emphasizing the participants’ gender performance in response to the researcher’s gender identity as well as the research topic. Finally, this work also provides tips that fellow researchers working in the field may find helpful in managing gender performance, avoiding sexist treatments, and enhancing the trustworthiness of the findings.